Slovaks vote in presidential polls with PM in the lead

BRATISLAVA -- Slovaks voted Saturday in the first round of a presidential election that Prime Minister Robert Fico is poised to win, amid concerns that his leftist Social Democrats could monopolize power in the eurozone country.

Victory for the former communist frontrunner in a pack of 14 candidates would give control of the presidency, parliament and government to the same party for the first time since Slovakia's independence in 1993.

Fico, 49, has earned valuable political capital during his six years as premier with an anti-austerity agenda tempered by fiscal discipline.